Respect yourself

Family Law Partners is giving control back to families with a range of empowering options

Business is booming for Brighton law firm, Family Law Partners, and a new move to the centre of the city builds on their recent acknowledgement from Chambers UK, the respected UK law guide, which gives the Brighton legal team top recommendations for family and matrimonial law and client care in the south of England. It is highly unusual for a law firm to have so many Chambers listed lawyers and when it comes to collaboration, Family Law Partners really do practice what they preach.

Directors Alan Larkin, Linda Lamb and Robert Williams launched Family Law Partners in April 2011, having worked together for five years as a family law team in a larger Sussex based general law firm. The three partners are all Resolution Accredited Specialists to an advanced level and are trained as Collaborative lawyers. In addition, Robert was appointed a Deputy District Judge in 2010.

“Giving control back to families is what we specialise in,” explains Alan. “Resolution completely changed the landscape of family law. It was novel and radical to avoid pushing everyone into the court process.” The training for collaborative law is an additional intensive process to being a lawyer and is not for the litigious-minded. It is a non-adversarial approach to finding solutions. Collaborative law started in Australia which is more advanced in family law provision, and moved to the States, and in the last five years has been gaining ground in the UK.

“Remember the client,” is a mantra that Alan lives by. Together, the three partners designed from scratch the service which reflects “how we would like to be treated, forgetting the fuddy duddy ways of the past, and looking at a whole range of new options”. These options include mediation, which has been established for about 20-25 years in this country. Linda is an experienced mediation specialist working with families, and is one of the few mediators to include children. “Giving a voice to children is a very powerful message to give to parents who may be splitting up – to involve children in their decision making.

“The process of collaborative law involves looking at different options, and achieving consensus. There are always different expectations to deal with, and we have the ability to reach some common ground as well
as taking stress away from the client.” Alan and the team at Family Law Partners are collaborative not only with their clients, but also work in partnership with other lawyers and disciplines across the city. They have helped develop Sussex Family Solutions, which is an integrated service of collaborative lawyers, mediators, counsellors, life therapists and psychologists who work almost as a triage service, referring clients to the best person who can help their situation. The lawyers do not receive a fee for referring a client to a counsellor or other specialist. It is about creating a flexible model which can empower a family and provide reassurance.

“How many lawyers do you hear say; ‘Don’t concede control to the lawyers or the courts?’”

Collaboration and mediation are the most practised areas during relationship breakdown such as divorce, civil partnership and cohabitation disputes, but it can be practised more widely, and Family Law Partners also specialise in inheritance and will disputes. Alan’s area of expertise centres around finance in disputes, and his fair approach extends to working with only truly independent financial advisors. “It is all about transparency, we are not tied to specific financial services or will providers.”

Another growth area for the firm is pre-nups and post-nups. Pre-nuptial agreements are not traditionally seen as binding in the English courts. However, if they are carried out fairly without undue influence, including proper financial disclosure, then they are increasingly seen as fair by the courts who now tend not to overrule them. They can be a way of pre-empting disputes.

As you will now appreciate, Family Law Partners embrace models and approaches which help and empower the client, and this is also apparent in their pricing, where flexible pricing which helps the client is the norm. “It’s all about adding value, and having a simple conversation with the client as to what would help. Sometimes a client can handle aspects of the legal procedure themselves and we empower them to do that and the pricing also reflects that.”

With such a modern approach, it is not surprising that Family Law Partners also embrace social media. Alan writes a regular blog, a sort of divorce finance toolkit to provide quality guidance for his growing number of followers. For Alan, Linda and Robert, you sense that practising law is a source of civic pride, a public service as well as creating a successful business with a growing team. How many lawyers do you hear say; “Don’t concede control to the lawyers or the courts”? Their approach is refreshing, and it’s not surprising that 90 per cent of their business comes from personal recommendations, which is also a testament to their growth.

With the range of stressful and often heart-breaking situations they can encounter on a daily basis, the team at Family Law Partners remain strong, and look out for each other as well as enjoying downtime together. If the firm was a TV programme, their style would be more in the vein of (a serious) Ally McBeal than the combative Perry Mason.

Alan sums up their ethos; “Collaborative law is another option. It is the essence of how we operate and we work really hard to make it happen. Sometimes it may not be a legal solution, but instead offers other areas of support in order to give people confidence and allow them to be in control of their arrangements. If you find yourself in a position of family breakdown with stresses and financial issues, look for the very best person you can find to help you resolve the situation. You deserve it, especially if you also have children to consider. Check whether your family law team are accredited and are members of Resolution.”

Family Law Partners,
5 Clifton Mews, Clifton Hill,
Brighton, BN1 3HR. 01273 646900, www.familylawpartners.co.uk